50.72 cr of 76.41 cr eligible voters exercised franchise in first 5 phases of LS polls: EC

New Delhi, May 25 (PTI) Of the 76.41 crore eligible voters in the first five phases of the Lok Sabha polls, as many as 50.72 crore people have cast their vote, according to data shared by the Election Commission on Saturday.

India has the largest electorate in the world at 96.88 crore.

The EC data showed that 11 crore voters out of 16.64 crore total electors cast their vote in the first phase held on April 19 for 102 seats, the polling percentage being 66.14.

In the second phase held on April 26 for 88 seats, the polling percentage was 66.71 with 10.58 crore people out of the total 15.86 crore eligible voters casting their vote.

The third phase of the polls on May 7 for 94 seats saw as many as 11.32 crore of the 17.24 crore eligible voters exercising their franchise, a polling percentage of 65.68.

In the fourth phase of the polls on May 13 for 96 seats, as many as 12.25 crore crore voters out of the total of 17.71 crore electors cast their votes, with the polling percentage being 66.71.

The fifth phase of the polls on May 20 for 49 seats, the polling percentage was 62.20 as 5.57 crore of the 8.96 crore eligible voters exercised their franchise.

The poll panel came out with the absolute number of voters on its own a day after the Supreme Court refused to issue directions to it on an NGO’s plea for uploading polling booth-wise voter turnout data on its website.

Electors are those who are part of the electoral roll and eligible to voters. Voters are those who actually cast their vote in an election.

The EC said it has decided to further expand the format of turnout data to include the absolute number of voters in every parliamentary constituency.